All the Hurricane questions you want to ask here

[Troy Smith]

Another question for you, Troy. Can you tell from the photo above which camouflage pattern OK1 flew with? Any idea if it was standard? I've been comparing against the two camouflage schemes in the painting instructions for my Mk1 Hasegawa kit and haven't been able to square it with either.

From what little can be seen it looks like standard camo pattern, the 'B' variety.

someone has put a scan of this up, along with the rest of the series, well worth some right clicking!

http://www.boxartden.com/gallery/index.php/Profiles/Camoflage-Markings/03-Hawker-Hurricane

UV-N in the drawings is 'B' scheme, SD-N is 'A' Scheme.

On UV-N you can see the Dark Green/Dark Earth line visible on OK-1 above.

this is the official Hawker template of the A scheme, the B is a mirror image. Note the dimensions on the drawing, showing how camo edges are aligned with parts and panel lines.

HTH

[Magua87]

Much appreciated again!

[Wez]

What colour is the coaming underneath the windscreen? Black or grey-green

[Basilisk]

I have two questions regarding Hurricane Mk.I P3039 from No.229 Squadron of which I build the new tool 1/48 Airfix kit at the BoB GB.

1st, what propeller is fitted on this Hurricane. Here http://www.k5083.mistral.co.uk/APS.HTM it states that the aircraft is from the first Gloster production block and had a Rotol propeller. The spinner looks like a Rotol spinner, but the blades are too skinny, comparing it to the propeller in the kit (C11) which has much wider blades.

2nd, several colour profiles show a penguin on the lower engine cover and there is a bright spot on the picture which could be a penguin. Is it known why this aircraft had a penguin painted on?

Any help is much appreciated.

Cheers, Peter

[Troy Smith]

Hi Peter

Looks Spitfire Rotol too me, note blade shape of bottom blade tip, and the over hang of the spinner, I think the confusion is just the angle of blades,light etc in the photo, causing the wide blade roots to be obscured.

The only other option would be the De Havilland Hurricane unit, which has a much smaller diameter spinner.

Can't help on the penguin, but perhaps it was noted as being applied. Love to know myself too.

HTH

T

[airjiml2]

Has anyone ever seen a photo of a fabric winged Hurri with a rotol spinner and prop? Most with three bladed props appear to have the DH prop.

Jim

[Graham Boak]

I presume you mean service aircraft? There are photos of the prewar test example with a civil registration, but this had a modified nose to match the diameter of the spinner.

[tonyot]

Has anyone ever seen a photo of a fabric winged Hurri with a rotol spinner and prop? Most with three bladed props appear to have the DH prop.

Jim

I have!!

Tony

[airjiml2]

Yes, I mean an in service aircraft.

I have not heard about modifications to the nose before. Was there a change during Mk. I production to the nose shape? (Or was it discussed in this thread and I missed it.)

Jim

Edited September 11, 2015 by airjiml2

[beppe]

I read that two cannons were often removed from hurricane mk IIc.

Was it a common practice, and which ones were removed ?

beppe

[Graham Boak]

Jim: It was a one-off. There was a minor change to the nose ring very early in production, splitting it into two parts and adding small open bulges to cover the Constant Speed Unit and vacuum pump. Later there was the oil spill ring.

Beppe: Removing the outer cannon was fairly common in the Desert, quite how much so is probably impossible to say, and also seen in SEAC.

Edited September 12, 2015 by Graham Boak

[Basilisk]

Hi Peter

Looks Spitfire Rotol too me, note blade shape of bottom blade tip, and the over hang of the spinner, I think the confusion is just the angle of blades,light etc in the photo, causing the wide blade roots to be obscured.

The only other option would be the De Havilland Hurricane unit, which has a much smaller diameter spinner.

Can't help on the penguin, but perhaps it was noted as being applied. Love to know myself too.

HTH

T

Thanks Troy. Would you know by any chance what spinner / propeller combination in regards to kit parts does work in 1/48 scale?

Has anyone ever seen a photo of a fabric winged Hurri with a rotol spinner and prop? Most with three bladed props appear to have the DH prop.

Jim

I have!!

Tony

Very helpful reply Tony! I can see an "I know" coming

Cheers, Peter

[Troy Smith]

Thanks Troy. Would you know by any chance what spinner / propeller combination in regards to kit parts does work in 1/48 scale?

yep. D71[spinner], C11,[prop] D74[backplate]

Note, the prop misses the circular 'bulge' at the roots visible here, and ironically captured on the old Airfix Hurricane as well...

this also shows how the distinctive blade root can be obscured by blade postion.

from

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234980181-hawker-hurricane-propellers-and-spinners-a-modellers-guide/

[phil B.]

hi all! I'm currently building the 1978 tooling 1/72 airfix hurricane Mk I from the duxford box set as aircraft NN*D serial P3143, I've used valiant wings upgrade set, which has a very nice set of four spoke wheels, and my question is are these wheels correct for this hurricane?

thanks in advance, phil.

*edit* nearly forgot, could this machine have had the earlier "pole" type aerial? if not is there an aftermarket supplier of the later type? i still have three more boxings of this kit that only have the pole aerial that i may need to think about replacing.

Edited September 12, 2015 by phil B.

[Troy Smith]

hi all! I'm currently building the 1978 tooling 1/72 airfix hurricane Mk I from the duxford box set as aircraft NN*D serial P3143, I've used valiant wings upgrade set, which has a very nice set of four spoke wheels, and my question is are these wheels correct for this hurricane?

thanks in advance, phil.

*edit* nearly forgot, could this machine have had the earlier "pole" type aerial? if not is there an aftermarket supplier of the later type? i still have three more boxings of this kit that only have the pole aerial that i may need to think about replacing.

I've only seen 5 spoke on L**** and N**** serialed planes, after that it's 4 spoke.

No pole aerial

this is what you want, looks to a be a standard BoB era Hurricane.

couple more 310 pic here

http://www.asisbiz.com/il2/Hurricane/RAF-310Sqn-NN.html

this page https://fcafa.wordpress.com/2012/06/02/hurricane-aircraft-of-310-sqn-and-312-sqn/

has a pic of the starboard side of NN-Y showing the codes run NN-Y, as this did vary between squadrons.

Graham Boak suggests that the upper cowling of the 1978 kit is too narrow, but can be fixed with some simple surgery. I'll edit in the fix if I can find it.

OK

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/9621-airfix-172-hurricane-mk1/#entry110662

The Airfix kit is too narrow in the engine - wedge the front apart at the top then fill'n'file back to circular at the spinner. I recall the spinners coming in two versions - too big and far too big.

[Graham Boak]

Not quite: I stated quite definitely that it is wrong, and only suggested a possible solution. The problem is at the top corners, ahead of the exhausts. The kit shape tapers neatly in a way that would have the Merlin's front cylinder blocks sticking through the cowling at the top corners. The correct, or certainly far better, shape can be seen on the new Airfix Hurricane, the new(ish) Revell Hurricane, and the Hasegawa Hurricane (working backwards chronologically) if you have any of these handy. ALL preceding 1/72 Hurricanes have this flaw.

To make a correction, find the vertical line marking the nose ring, forward of the exhausts. Saw halfway down this line. When you glue the fuselages together glue the nose ring but not the upper cowling line aft of that. Once dry, insert a wedge into the join above the exhausts so that the front of the cowling now sticks out at the "shoulders". Fortunately the plastic is flexible enough to allow this. Then add filler tapering from these shoulders to the front of the nose ring, and fill the top join. The same fault is present on the recent Airfix Hurricane Mk.IIc/IIb kit, but unfortunately the plastic is thicker and not so flexible, so a little more work is required.

Troy: if I said it more clearly last time feel free to copy that anyway.

[phil B.]

thanks for that photo troy!

i had already put a DH prop on my build when it should have been a rotol one, now changed, and ive used a set of resin exhausts that seem to match your pic (by blind luck more than any sort of research!) its obviously too late now for me to do anything about the nose on this one but i do still have three more different versions of this kit, not sure if i like hurricanes, or like this actual kit!

i did have to use aftermarket decals, as the airfix supplied ones were badly out of register, but the plus point was that the set i used (aviaology vital storm pt2) also had a full set of stencils that have made my kit that bit more realistic.

[LDSModeller]

Hi all,

Quick question for the experts. I've read through the entire 23 pages of posts (just to make sure ) and could not find anything.

I'm building an 87 Squadron Hurricane P3394 (BoB GB) and have a question? Circa August 1940 what would be the colour of the armour plate behind the pilot (Head/Body)? I have seen it green in builds, but (and maybe I'm confusing the issue here) I read a post by Edgar (April 2010) that the armour in a Spitfire in 1940 :

For the Spitfire I, that's a little too simplistic; reports have said that the first armour, fitted in early 1940, could have been natural steel, and there are photos of some, where the plate, behind the pilot's seat, is black. Once production got into its stride, the plate would have been considered as an internal fitting, so would have been green.
Edgar

I'm guessing that this would apply to Mk I Hurricanes also, but by August 1940 could/would it still be NMF/Black or green entirely?

Sorry, I don't know when P3394 was manufactured?

Thanks

Alan

[Selwyn]

Hi all,

Quick question for the experts. I've read through the entire 23 pages of posts (just to make sure ) and could not find anything.

I'm building an 87 Squadron Hurricane P3394 (BoB GB) and have a question? Circa August 1940 what would be the colour of the armour plate behind the pilot (Head/Body)? I have seen it green in builds, but (and maybe I'm confusing the issue here) I read a post by Edgar (April 2010) that the armour in a Spitfire in 1940 :

I'm guessing that this would apply to Mk I Hurricanes also, but by August 1940 could/would it still be NMF/Black or green entirely?

Sorry, I don't know when P3394 was manufactured?

Thanks

Alan

The first Hurricanes to have Seat armour were 1 Sqn in France, It was fitted unofficially by order of the CO, Sqn Ldr Bull Halahan who had incidentally been told by Farnborough that is was not possible as the weight of the armour would affect the aircraft C of G. In reply he then sent an aircraft so fitted to Farnborough where it did an aerobatic display to prove them wrong!

The armour i believe was initially taken from crashed Fairey battles, so would probably been cockpit green.

Selwyn

[Graham Boak]

The design for protective armour was prepared in 1939 - it just happened that production was beginning at much the same time as this story, which appears to grow in the telling! However, the addition of back armour did adversely affect the Hurricane: the aft cg was to prove a problem throughout the life of the Mk.I to the extent that the Sea Hurricanes fitted with an arrester hook (also shifting the cg aft) were forced to use the metal DH propeller rather than the preferred Rotol. Moving the engine forward on the Mk.II, although necessary because of the extended gearbox on the rear of the Merlin XX, solved this problem.

Aircraft with too-far aft cg are unstable and excessively sensitive on the controls. An experienced pilot can cope well enough and even benefit from this (within limits) but an inexperienced pilot would have problems just flying such, let alone fighting efficiently.

[Starfighter]

I have a friend who is about to start his 1/24 Hurricane ( Trumpeter ) and he's planning on building Stanford Tuck's V6864

DT - A, and he asked me for info on cockpit colours. Now i'm building the same kit, but mine will be P3576 GN - A, and I've painted the cockpit with aluminium seat, frame and lower fuselage internals, as shown on the photos of earlier hurricanes, so my question is : Would DT - A be the same, or would it be the later grey green / eau-di-nil shade ?

Any help would be much appreciated.

[Troy Smith]

as far as I know, the use of aluminium paint for all of the internals except cockpit walls and rear bulkhead in grey-green carried on until 1942

see post on page 3 here for photos and discussion.

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234963507-all-the-hurricane-questions-you-want-to-ask-here/page-3#entry1682406

HTH

[Starfighter]

as far as I know, the use of aluminium paint for all of the internals except cockpit walls and rear bulkhead in grey-green carried on until 1942

see post on page 3 here for photos and discussion.

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234963507-all-the-hurricane-questions-you-want-to-ask-here/page-3#entry1682406

HTH

Many thanks for that, Troy. It's nice to have these things confirmed.

[825]

Stupid question and probably answered before.

What colour is the small part of the fuselage 'dog kennel' inside/under the closed canopy. Is it cockpit grey green or a continuation of the fuselage camouflage? Period is Dark Green/Dark Earth Battle of Britain.

[tango98]

According to the relevant 'protective finishes' documents relating to the cockpit areas of Hurricanes built in the UK they remained 'painted aluminium' and 'interior grey-green' right through to the end of the types production.

The so-called 'dog house' section under the rear of the canopy was painted in one of the relevant upper surface camouflage colours to match the camo colours/pattern applied to the particular airframe.

HTH

Cheers

Dave

Edited September 30, 2015 by tango98